In Memory's Light
by NarcissaTheSecond
Summary: "I'm not looking for peace!" She stated, "I'm looking for revenge!"  And yet...we don't always find what we're looking for! Do we?
1. Chapter 1

The sky glittered as the sun rose on the horizon. Day break was beautiful, with the greay golden orb making the dark, parched sand on the ground burn and sizzle. The smell of fresh, untainted oxygen hung in the air, making it breathable. It was nothing like the air that present day children breathed, it was beautiful and flawless.

The woman that stood watching the prehistoric world go by breathed deeply, sucking it in through her nose and through the gaps in her teeth, savouring the air, though it made her dizzy, before she had to go back to the place where the air was polluted and impure. She watched as a herd of Scutosaurus went charging past towards the large watering hole where she would later go to wash, after the animals had left and gone about their day-to-day routine of roaring, walking and eating.

This woman had much more urging matters. She looked down at the woman at her feet and turned her face away in distaste. The woman disgusted her, but no more than the people she was going to visit next. They had hurt her a long time ago, and now it was time for revenge.

"I'm sure I'll be seeing you again!" The woman said to the person at her feet.

"Why, why not just kill me?" The beaten woman asked, gasping and clutching at her ribs where the younger woman had kicked her.

"Because, I'm not like you! And in time, you'll learn that there are much worse things than death!" The girl said, with a small, ironic smile, "You taught me that!"

The woman turned away from the other girl and turned back to the light glittering in front of her. She smiled, streatched a hand out and ran it through the glittering, weightless diamonds that hung there.

"They never cease to amaze, do they?" The girl asked the woman behind her.

"Never..." The injured woman said, wincing again and clutching her side more gently, tears cascading from her eyes, "They can never bring you peace though!" She stated and the younger woman smiled back at the anomaly.

"I'm not looking for peace!" She said, gently, "I'm looking for revenge!"


	2. Chapter 2

The ARC was silent and for once, there had been no anomaly alery and work was fairly boring, though no one in their right mind would complain for fear of jynxing them. With their luck, that was more than possible. Jenny sat at her desk, twiddling a pen through her fingers and chewing on her thumb. She sighed and sat back in ner chair, the pile of work she had been assigned lay completed on her desk. She sat back on her chair and swung it around once, a very uncharacteristic thing for Jenny to do. She spotted nick, looking very handsome and very bored, pouring over his work. She sighed again, finally giving up on doing nothing and stood up. She grabbed the files on her desk and made her way over to Lesters office.

People turned as her heels clicked on the floor, most said hello, many smiled, some just stared. Connor, Abby and Sarah smiled. Nick stared, smiling smugly at her. She felt herself blush and smiled back at him. She flicked her hair over her shoulder and felt an extra swing in her step as she climbed the ramp, her hips swaying, seductively. She glanced back as she entered the office. Everyone was still staring. She caught Nick's eye and he winked. Smiling to herself, she turned to Lester.

"The files you gave me to sort through, James," She said, dropping them on his clear desk and turning to walk away.

"Thank you!" Jenny turned, quickly, shoched by her boss' sudden thoughtfullness.

"You're welcome...?" She said, uneasily and he glanced up at her with a smile, looked away and then did a double take.

"You look different?" He noted, looking away again, "Did you do something different with your hair?"

Jenny automatically raised a hand to her dark locks, fluffing them up.

"No, I just don't usually wear it down...is all!" She said, with a small smile, as she turned to leave once more.

She walked back down the ramp feeling quite pleased with herself. When she exited the office, everyone looked up again, and she smiled. Everyone got the message and went back to whatever it was they had been doing earlier. Nick had his back to her and she smiled as she walked towards him. He must have heard her heels, but he didn't turn his head until she was right behind him, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing her lips to his ear.

"Hello," She said, quietly, and she heard him chuckle, darkly.

"Hey" He said and he turned his head and kissed her, gently. Then he turned fully and took her hands so she stepped back. She had her long, brown hair down and straight and was wearing a black suit with a fitted blazer and a white blouse. On her feet was an impressively large pair of shoes that Nick admired her for being able to walk in.

His heart ached as he looked at her, she stared back at him with those brown eyes. Her eyes. Claudia's! But she wasn't Claudia, at least not in the way he had once thought. Sure she looked like her, but they were two different people and, though he hated to admit it, the longer they were together, the more he began to forget Claudia Brown.

He felt guilty about it, but he also knew that he had to at least try and let go of the past, because that was one thing that could never return to haunt him if he did move on, because...well, he wouldn't be really. Would he?

_Stop it, Nick, before you give yourself a migrain!_ He said, quickly and Jenny smiled at him.

"I can see the cogs in your brain working," She said, perching on the side of his desk, "what are you thinking about?"

_If only I could explain..._

"Nothing," He lied, quickly, "Just tired, is all"

"After last night..." She said, biting her lip and leaning forwards so she brushed her cheek against his stubble, "I'm not surprised!" She whispered, seductively and Nick shuddered. She sent tingles down his spine. In a good way. A very, _very_ good way!

"Hmm..." Nick said, looking her over as she leaned back again, smiling, cheekily at him, "Behave, you, we're in work!" She just shrugged, playfully and he laughed.

"You know," He said, "You are a completely different person from when I met you! It's like a whole new Jenny, in a good way! I like it!"

"Yeah," She said, smiling and looking down at her nails, "I can be me...now!"

She didn't have to add the unspoken, Now Marks out of the picture, but it rang through the silence like she'd screamed it at him but he just smiled, taking her hand and kissing it, affectionately.

"I love you" She sighed and he smiled at her.

"Me, too!"

"Why do you always do that?" She asked, abruptly, pulling her hand away.

"Do what?" He said, startled.

"You never say I love you, to me!"

"I just did..." He was completely confused now, but when she stood up and straightened her jacket, to leave, he felt guilty.

"No, you said 'Me too!" She mocked, "There's a difference!"

"Jenny," He said, standing up and catching her hand in his as she began to walk away, "I do..."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Oh for godssake!" He said as she turned away and went to the Anomaly Detector. He pulled something out of his pocket and looked down at it. Guess it would have to wait till later.


	3. Chapter 3

Connor looked up as he heard hissing and saw Sarah trying, furiously, to catch his attention. As he watched, she pointed to his side and he looked left. Abby. He scrunched up a peice of paper and threw it at her.

"Hey!" She hissed and glared at Connor who pulled a face and pointed at Sarah.

"Hi, guys," She said, and they both smiled at her, "I no I'm new here and everything, but what's the deal with Cutter and Jenny?"

Connor and Abby shared a conspiratorial glance and turned back to Sarah, shuffling their tables closer to her's as quietly as they could. It had always been obvious, of course, that Cutter and Jenny had alot in common. They were both incredibly stubborn, always thinking that they were right and everyone else was wrong. They were both slightly intimidaing to people outside of the ARC and even Connor sometimes quivvered under their gaze. And last...

They both had that incredibly steamy, sexy thing about them that drew people to them like a moth to a flame. Granted Jenny was much more obvious about it, but she was also allot hotter than the Prof., in different ways.

"Well," Connor began, glancing around them and spotting Jenny across the room from them, leaning back in her chair, suddenly, she did a very un-Jenny thing and did a quick spin before grabbing her filed and getting up. Then he spotted Nick, who had looked up as Jenny's incredible heels sounded on the floor. Everyone looked as she climbed the ramp, a definite swing in her hips. When she got to the top, she looked around and Connor saw her catch Nick's eye, and she smiled.

"Well," He repeated when she went into the office, "They had this whole thing going on for ages, where they fought all the time!"

"And we mean, all the time!" Abby put in, leaning in closer to her friend and writing in her round, childish script at the same time, "They were like Andrew and Sandra in the Proposal, only worse!" The two women exchanged a look and Connor looked utterly perplexed.

"Whats the pro..you know what, never mind!" He said, waving a hand, "Anyway, back to Jenny and the Prof. So they've got this whole arguing thing going on, right, then one day, we got this anomaly in the Thames and we had to go out in boats!" Connor and Abby both shuddered at the memory of that day, but Abby continued on what Connor had been saying.

"So, me and Connor and Jenny were in one boat, Stephen (Who you've never met) and Cutter were in the other! Connor and I were...arguing, and Jenny stood up, trying to break it up,"

"What happened?" Sarah asked, the suspense building, though she obviously knew how this ended.

"Something hit the boat and...and Jenny fell! We were calling to her, Swim Jenny, swim. She then decided to tell us she couldn't swim! So we're in the boat trying to figure out what to do, Jenny's in the water, panicking and trying to stay afloat"

"Then, suddenly, out of the water someway away comes this fin, and we're like 'Crap, she's gotta get out'" Connor, continued, "So we're yelling, "Come on, Jenny!" And she starts to move towards the boat, but this things to fast..." Sarah was, literaly, on the edge of her seat by now, and Connor was doing an excellent job of building suspence.

"And then, out of nowhere...Cutter arrives and yanks Jenny out of the water while Stephen shoots and fires at this thing, which we later find out is a future evolution of a shark!" Abby finished, looking pleased with herself.

"Our very own Romeo and Juliet!" Connor said, holding a hand over his heart mockingly and Abby punched his shoulder, "OW!"

"So, since he saved her life? They've been together?" Sarah asked and Connor and Abby shook their heads.

"There was a twist!" She said, "Jenny was engaged!"

Sarah gasped and slapped a hand to her mouth.

"NO!" She said, and Abby and Connor nodded.

"Yeah," Connor said, "But then, she tells him she's broken off her engagment, when we were all kidnapped by Helen!" Sarah looked horrified.

"Helen...Nick's ex Helen?" Abby and Connor nodded, in unision, again.

"Yeah, and apparently, they got a hell of alot closer when they were locked up again because after Stephen's funeral, we got this anomaly and Jenny got attacked and when we saved her, he threw his arms around her and started kissing her!" Connor said, looking shocked and scandeled.

"And they've been madly in love ever since!" Abby added, theatrically.

They all turned towards the stairs when the sound of clicking could be heard again and saw Jenny come down the ramp and go to Nick, wrapping her arms around his neck and saying something before he turned and kissed her passionately.

"You don't say!" Sarah said, sarcasically, raising her eyebrows as Nick and Jenny finally pulled apart and began to talk about something. Apparently, the lovers conversation took an unpleasant turn because a minute later, Jenny began to walk away, but Nick grabbed her hand to stop her...

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Perfect timing!" Connor said as he and Abby got up to follow Jenny to the detector. Sarah, however, stayed looking at Nick and saw him pull something out of his pocket. It looked like...

"Oh, my god!" Sarah said, slapping a hand to her mouth one more time and smiling to herself.

This was going to be very, very interesting!


	4. Chapter 4

Then streets looked pretty much the same. She remembered walking through the town with that bitch. It was strange to be able to do things of her own steam, to not have the woman who had held her with an iron grip for so many years, controlling her. She stepped out into the road, from the side alley and looked up and down.

There were plenty of people around, some parents, some couples. There was an old man across the street, sitting cross legged on the floor, playing a manderin. The girl cocked her head to one side and focused on listening to his music. It was a strange song, more of a lulluby. It was undoubtebly his own creation. As she watched, he turned his head and looked at her. She smiled and he did the same, then he looked away. She felt her breath catch. She felt her heart strings tug as she watched the old man, who had nothing, smiling up at the people who walked past him. He never said a word, never asked for any money. He just sat there, playing.

Walking forwards, she saw that, in his open mandarin case, there were a few small coins. Nothing of significance. He looked up at her with heavy eyes that sparkled. She rooted in her pockets, knowing she had nothing to give.

"I'm sorry...I don't have anything!" She said, her voice low and guilty. The man went on smiling and looking at her. He nodded, slowly.

"I know!" He said, with a grin. She looked down at her hand and turned to walk away, "You are a good person!" She heard him say, and she turned to look at him.

"Thats a matter of opinion..." She began, but he interrupted.

"I can see, in your eyes. You are a good person and whatever you are searching for, you will find it!" He said, slowly, nodding as he spoke, and the girl looked away, at the floor, her expression curious.

"Thank you..." She said, unsurely turning, once more, to walk away. This time, as she began to walk, she heard the man start playing his instrument once again. He was playing a slow, mornfiul song this time, which contrasted harshly to what he had just told her. She contemplated the man as she wallked through the town, gaining looks from people she passed. She realised it was probably because of the way she was dressed. She could see teenage girls of about her age walking around in denim shorts, short dresses or skirts, belly tops. She herself was wearing long, combat trousers with rough, ruined military boots and a white vest-top. She had a jacket over her clothes that she had taken from her captor. It matched the trousers.

As she walked, she peered randomly into shops. She knew where she had to go. She knew everything about the place for godssake. She was putting it off. She had to hurt the people that had hurt her. She would force herself to do it, she didn't have a choice. It had been drummed into her. This was what she had to do.

She stepped out of the way of three girls walking past her. They were all three blond, tanned and taller than her. As she stepped out of their way, the girl closest to her went out of her way to shoulder barge her.

"Do you mind!" She said, and the girl looked at her.

"Yeah, actually, I do!" She said, then her eyes travelled down her outfit and her eyebrows dissappeared beneath her fringe, "Whats with the outfit?"

"Whats with the orange face!" The girl said, and the taller girl's mouth fell open.

"You are so gonna pay for that!" She said, pulling back her fist.

The girl ducked and grabbed the fist that shot towards her, grabbing and crushing it with her hand. She pushed down on the girls shoulder, making her cry out in pain. Her friends just watched, their mouths handing open.

"Alright, now!" A voice said, and she felt her shoulders being pulled. A hand reached out and pried her hand away from the girls wrist pinning them behind her back.

"Whats your name?" The police officer asked, cuffing her hands behind her back.

"Alex...Green!" She made up, wildly, glaring at the girl in froln of her, who was nursing he wrrist and her shoulder.

"Ok then, Alex, you're going to have to come back to the station with me!"

Alex sat in the car, her mind working, wildly, to try and figure a way out of it. She thouhght of the ARC, of how she could contact them. The officer handed her the opportunity.

"You get a phone call!" He said, uncuffing her and leading her to a phone that had been put up on the wall, "You only get one, so make the most of it!"

"Oh, I will!" She said, watching him w**alk away before typing the number wildly.**


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you sure you're all right?" Jenny asked Nick, fussing around him immensely, fixing the already impeccibly bandage around his stomach and kissing his cheek.

"Jenny, you asked me that two seconds ago!" He said, handing her his shirt. She wiped her hands and then set it aside, looking at Nick with a peculiar expression on her face, "Jenny! I'm fine!" He said, a small laugh on his lips.

Earlier, they had been in the field and facing an anomaly that seemed harmless. Until a 40 foot high Brachiosaurus came rampaging through and knocked everyone aside. Nick, who had been closest to the Anomaly, had been forced into the nearest bush and scraped several times across the stomach by the sharp branches. They left behind many deep cuts and a surprising amount of blood. They hadn't been able to do anything about it, of course. because they had needed to deal with the creature. But Jenny was dealing with it now!

"I'm sorry..." She said, stepping closer to him.

"About what?" He asked, and she rolled her eyes.

"Well, this obviously!" She said, gesturing to the scratches that were hidden beneath the bandages. It hadn't been pretty.

"Aah's not your fault!" He said, and Jenny rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well, still, wish you didn't have to go through it, don't I!" She said, poking him, gently, but he winced anyway. She made an apologetic expression and kissed him, gently.

"Yeah, well, maybe I can forgive you for that!" He said, smiling up at him. She grinned and his expression became confused, "What was the other thing you were sorry about?"

"Well," She began awkwardly, and Nick raised his eyebrows. Since when was _Jenny_ nervous?

"You know! Before!" She insisted, twisting her hands around and walking a few paces away from Nick so that her back was to him. He couldn't see her expression but he guessed that if he had, she would have been taking deep breaths and rolling her eyes. It was what she did when she was nervous! Now he could see her shoulders rising and falling slowly.

"Jenny?" He prompted, and she turned to look at him, shaking her hair out and averting her eyes from his face.

"Well, before, when I was pushy about...you never saying you love me!" She said, looking him in the eyes finally. Nick breathed through his nose deeply. That was what he had been expecting. He sighed and pushed forwards off the car he'd been leaning on. He cleared his throat and stood directly in front of her, looking down slightly into her eyes.

"Jenny..." He began, and she put her hands to her face, feeling foolish for having put him in this situation.

"You know what, forget it!" She said, softly, smiling gently at him, "You don't have to say it now! Say it when your ready...I don't mind!" She turned to walk away, rolling her eyes to the heavens and thinking how stupid she must look before she heard Nick mumble something.

"What did you say?" She said, wheelign around to look at him, not able to believe whats he thought she had heard.

"I said marry me!" He said, looking directly into her eyes. In his hands, which were held out to her, he was holding a small black, velvet box. It was open and inside lay a white gold, diamond encrusted ring that looked as if it had cost a pretty penny. Gasping for air, Jenny raised her eyes to Nicks. He wasn't smiling, he wasn't crying, he was completely expressionless. Except for his eyes. In his eyes she could see a thousand things running through his brain, but they never wavered from her face. In his eyes, she could see herself reflected back and she saw herself raise a hand to her face again. Saw her stunmble backwards in disbelief. Saw her open her mouth to speak...

_Ring, Ring, Ring!_

"You'd better get that!" Nick said, looking at her, still, and gesturing towards the phone. Absently, Jenny nodded and fumbled at her pocket.

"H..Hello? Yes, this is Jenny Lewis!" She spoke quickly, her words stumbling over eachother.

_"I know who you are. You need to come down to the Police Station, please"_

"Who is this?"

_"That doesn't matter at this moment in time, all that matters is that I have information that could damage the anomaly project! I suggest you get down here unless you want me to losten my tongue!"_

"Sorry, I don't take to kindly to threats, and I don't scare easily!" Jenny said, and eh felt Nick's hand on her shoulder as he leaned down his ear towards the phone. She held it slightly away from her ear for him and watched his expression intently.

_"Well, unless you come here, without Cutter: who I know is listening intently to each word you and I say, I'm going to...let slip, everything I know about the anomalies, about you and about Mrs Cutter! Be here, alone, within the next hour, or say goodbye to your secrets! Ciou!" _And with that, the line went dead and all that Nick and Jenny could hear was the ominous sound of an endless note. Jenny snapped her phone shut with a strangely final sound and tapped it against her lip.

"What are we going to do?" Nick asked and Jenny nodded to herself, putting her phone in her back pocket.

"We," She said, gently, "Aren't going to do anything!_ I_ am going down to the police station..."

"Jenny, you can't!" Nick interrutted, but Jenny ignored him and continued talking as she walked towards her car.

"...to speak to this girl, whoever she is! You are going to go back to the others and tell them where I am and then you're going to deal with this anomaly, go back to the ARC and I'll see you later!" She had climbed into the car and started the engine. Nick sighed, seeing that she was in one of her stubborn moods.

"I want you back for," He checked his watch, "Eight o'clock!" He said, staring intently at her.

"Sure!" She leaned towards him and pouted her lips, for a kiss.

"Think about it!" Nick said, throwing the small, velvet box onto the passenger seat and kissing her, softly. She glanced back at the box and could barely contain her shudder. She remembered what being engaged to Mark was like. But Nick was nothing like him, it couldn't possibly end the same way. She adn Nick had no secrets!

She slipped her belt over her head and bid Nick farewell. As she pulled out of the car park, she glanced into her rear-view mirror to see Nick watching after her with an odd expression on his face. She sighed and turned back to the road, a million thoughts running through her mind. The loudest and most important for this moment: Who the hell is this girl!

* * *

**Sorry for the HUGE gap between updates! The gaps will prbably go on like this for a while Im afraid, as my laptop is broken! Look out for chapters! Thanks people! xxx**

**Stephanie x**


	6. Chapter 6

Jenny drove in silence for a while, until the awkward silence began to press on her as if she were in the car with someone she disliked. She knew where her tension came from and so switched on the radio.

_"Are you looking for the perfect, princess wedding dress you always wanted, the one you wished, hoped, prayed and dreamed of?"_

"NO!" Jenny screamed, slamming in the play button on the CD part of the radio adn allowing the soothing, sexy voice if Michael Buble to wash over her. She breathed a sigh of relief and slowed to a standstill at the next set of red lights, sighing, and dropping her head onto her knuckles. They were tensed against the wheel and glowed bright white against her already porcelain skin.

How could Nick have drooped something like that on her? She thought, Like they didn't have enough on their plates at the moment! Like the anomalies and...and everything else! Not to mention his psycho of an ex-wife! Though, technically...they weren't divorced and she wasn't dead...so, technically, weren't they still married? It was all crashing around in Jenny's head. And then another thought occurred to her, to join the cyclone whirling around Jenny's already over-crowded brain.

Who the hell could this girl be?

Obviously, somehow, some way she knew Jenny. And apparently, Nick as-well! Who was to say she didn't know the rest of the team! It was really quite creepy to think that some girl she had never met, at least she didn't think she;d ever heard the girls voice before, knew her! How had she known that Nick was listening at the phone? Maybe she could hear him breathing...? No, that was stupid!

"OI!" Jenny heard, suddenly, and it was hurriedly followed by several car horns honking. Jenny looked up at the traffic lights, feeling as though she'd been asleep, and was shocked to see they had turned green. Her cheeks burned scarlet and she pushed down on the accelerator so that the car screeched a few metres forwards.

"Shit!" She cursed to herself, feeling her stomach jolt like the car had and she pushed down slowly on the accelerator, feeling more embarrassed than she had in years. She heard the car behind her speed up and pull into the lane beside her. Refusing to look sideways, Jenny sank down into her seat, trying to hide despite the fact that the windows were tinted. Jenny stayed sunk into her seat until she pulled into the police car park. She relaxed in her seat and self-consciously fluffed up her hair, breathing deeply. She leaned across the car to open the CD compartment and pulled out her lipgloss. But not without something catching her eye.

She sighed and picked up the ring box, taking a second deep breath before snapping it open. She stared down at it, her eyes beginning to itch and felt her shoulders sag. Jenny took a guess at 6 carats and slammed the lid down before she was tempted to put on the ring, and climbed out of her car, throwing her bag over her shoulder and slamming the door.

She stormed towards the door and fluffed her hair once more before throwing open the door and marching in with purpose in her step. She barged up to the desk and stared down at the puny, little man sitting behind it. He didn't look up at her for a moment, which annoyed her very much: as being ignored usually did, and Jenny had to clear her throat a few times before she had any notice taken of her. He glanced up at her and returned back to his work before doing a double take and jumping to his feet. He tilted his police cap in her direction, discreetly looking her over.

"Ma'am, 'ow can I 'elp you?" He spoke in one of the broadest London accents she had heard since she'd watched Mary Poppins as a child.

"I'm here to visit someone!" She said, leaning on the desk as the man, who was nearly a head shorter than her, continued to eye her up and asked her an awkward question.

"Who are ya 'ere to see?"

"I...um..." Jenny drew a blank and for the first time, the man raised his eyes to look into Jenny's. She floundered for a minute before admiting, "I don't know..."

The man looked her over again, this time with disbelief rather than the appreciation and admiration he had surveyed her with a minute before. Then he sat down and leaned back in his chair.

"Ya don't know who ya' 'ere to see?" He spoke with a slight laugh in his voice and Jenny immediately recognized herself as being patronized.

"I can explain...only I might not be able to!" She said, feeling more awkward than she had when she'd been having her earlier conversation with Nick. Well...almost.

"Right..." The man said, dragging out the word and then sighing, "Well, when ya'v decided wot you're gonna say...just let'm no!"

Jenny glared at the man, who had returned to his computer and sighed heavily, crossing her arms across her chest. What could she do...? The girl hadn't even given her a name to go by. Just then, a man came through the double doors at the far end of the room. He was taller than Jenny with next to no hair and large, blue eyes. He smiled at her.

"I wonder, are you Ms Jenny Lewis?" He asked and she looked at him, confused, and nodded.

"Yes, I am! How did you know?" She asked, cautiously.

"We have a teenage girl here who gave me your name and a rather..." He looked her over like the small man had, "Accurate description of you! She's through here, if you'd like to follow me!"

Jenny nodded and followed behind the well spoken, tall man who led her through the double doors and down several corridors before he brought her to what was obviously the 'interrogation room'. Inside there was a person, a girl obviously, with her head bent over. Her hair was mahogony and rather straggly. From the way she was sitting, she looked as though if she stood up straight, she would be fairly tall. Probably about Jenny's height. She had her head in her hands, but as Jenny watched, she flicked her hair back and ran her fingers through it. She spotted Jenny and her face curled into a kindof wry smile. Slowly, she pushed herself back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest.

Jenny heard the police officer unlock the door and thanked him, stepping inside and allowing him to lock it behind her.

When inside, neither she nor the girl said anything. She stood tall near the door, her arms at her sides. She crossed them over her chest, as the girl had and cleared her throat, nodding pointedly at the chair.

"Please," The girl said, in a voice that gave next to no accent, "Have a seat."

Jenny did so, taking one of the two seats opposite the girl and removing her coat. She placed it on the chair beside her with her bag and leaned forwards, her elbows rested on the table, her hands folded beneath her chin. The girl did not change her posture, but continued to survey Jenny with the same, half smile. The silence was long and dragging and finally, when it seemed that the girl had no intention of doing so, Jenny broke it.

"Who are you?" She asked, glancing for a second at her hands before bringing her eyes up to look into the girls. They were brown.

The girl just looked at Jenny.

"Ok...Whats you name? How old are you? Where do you come from?"

"Crystal, Twenty, The future...and the past!" She said, so quickly that Jenny had trouble separating the words in her mind.

"Ok..._Crystal_...how do you know me?" Jenny asked. Crystal shook her head.

"Not important."

"OK, then what is important?" Silence.

"Ok," Jenny said, picking up her bag and getting to her feet, "I see that there is no point in my being here if you are just going to sit there with your mouth closed and not give me any of the information I've asked for!" She reached across the table with her hand outstretched, but Crystal just surveyed it coldly.

"Goodbye, thank you for waiting my time!"

Jenny went to the door and signalled for the man to open it, but by the time he had the key in the lock and had turned it, Crystal decided to speak.

"Helen..." She said, and Jenny looked at he man who was standing in the door, looking unsure, "She's important." Jenny shook her head and apologised to the officer, who sighed and gave her a gentle smile before swinging the door closed and locking it once more.

"Helen?" Jenny said, turning back to the girl and once again crossing her arms across her chest. She walked slowly to the table, dropped her back onto the chair and leaned towards the girl with both hands on the surface, "What about her?"

"Touchy subject?" Crystal said, surveying her short, bitten nails and smiling in a way that reminded Jenny of the woman she thought of as her enemy.

"Not in the slightest," She lied, "Now are you going to talk or not?"

Crystal glanced at the mirror on the far side of the wall.

"Not here, I know how these rooms work! There's a man on the other side of that listening to every word I say and I don't want him listening to my information...for reasons you, of all people, can understand!" She said, raising herself of her seat and standing. Jenny had been right, they were the same size.

Jenny rolled her eyes and cast a glance to the mirror.

"No funny stuff! I swear..." Crystal said, holding up her hands. Jenny looked her over. She was wearing combat trousers, worn out Military boots- not the fashionable ones, and a white vest top. Over that was a jacket that looked...vaguely familiar!

"You know what..." Jenny said, feeling exasperated, as she rooted about in her bag for her Government Security Badge "I have a feeling I am going to regret this! I'm taking you back to the ARC and you are going to have a chat with Cutter and the rest of the team!"

"Ma'am!" Crystal said, sarcasticaly, as she followed Jenny to the door.

Jenny pulled a few strings, flashed a few smiles and sure enough, Crystal, the mysterious prisoner was released. Jenny felt slightly uneasy about this girl and had felt in her bag for her gun as well as her badge to find it there and loaded. That made her feel slightly better, but when the girl didn't try anything, she began to relax. They didn't speak much in the car and Crystal spent most of her time staring out of the window. Jenny kept sending her glances.

"OK, how that we are out of the Station...do you think you could answer one question for me?" She said, and Crystal stared at her for a while before she nodded, "What did you mean by, 'From the future...and the past'?"

Crystal allowed a small, ironic smile to grace her pretty, plump lips and looked Jenny full on in the face.

"I was born in the year 2029, and in the year 2036, I was kidnapped! I've lived most of my life running away from the woman who kidnapped me..."

"Helen!" Jenny said, feeling what Crystal had said earlier click into place.

Crystal looked at her and nodded, her tone confirming.

"Helen"


	7. Chapter 7

"Sit!" Jenny said, as she walked into the Ops area with the girl (if you could call a 20 year old a girl) beside her. Crystal rolled her eyes but took a seat on one of the chairs that were scattered around the room for no apparent reason. Jenny pushed her fringe out of her eyes and went to the team, who had all been watching with interst. She walked over to them and Connor opened his mouth to speak but Sarah beat him to it.

"What's she doing here?" She asked, her voice thick with indignation. Jenny held up a hand to her.

"Sarah, chill, OK! Breathe!"

"Good question though!" Nick said, looking at Jenny's hand. She lowered it, self consciously, "Who is she?"

"She's, I think, someone who needs protection! The kind only we can give!" She said, looking from one friends face to the next. She fixed each of her friends with that stare before each one of them visibly broke down.

Abby sighed, putting her hands in the pocket of her leather jacket and leaning around Jenny to look, "Whats her name?"

"Crystal"

"Crystal?" Sarah mimicked, in disbelief.

"Oh, please!" Abby commented. Nick and Connor exchanged a look.

"Is she dangerous?" Nick asked, walking to Jenny's side and turning his back on Crystal.

"Well, she didn't try to escape and as far as I know, she's pretty normal..." Jenny said, leaning into him and resting herhead on his shoulder. To her surprise, he didn't attempt to even put his arms around there, he just stood there like a statue. She looked up at him to see that he was looking straight ahead. Feeling jilted, she pulled away and folded her arms across her chest, scoffing.

"OK, so...do we get to talk to her? Should we have her put in the conference room?" Sarah suggested, clearly trying to ice over the extremely awkward situation, she gestured for Connor and Abby to follow her and they went over to the girl. Jenny turned her back on Nick to walk away and he didn't even try to stop her.

Somehow, that was the worst thing of all.

* * *

"So...your from the future...but you got kidnapped and ended up spending most of your life in the past?" Connor said, as if trying to get his head around it. Crystal nodded.

"Yes. I've been over this a million times!"

"Yeah, well it's a little hard to believe! How old are you, anyway?" Sarah asked and Crystal sighed, dropping her head into her hands.

"I am 20 years old...in three months..."

"You're not...what?" Jenny said, feeling extremelytired.

They were in the confrence room. Crystal was sitting at the table, Sarah and Abby sitting opposite her. Jenny was perched on the end of the table and Connor and Nick were standing behind them, the latter having not said a word for the entire meeting.

"Yeah...i figured there's a big difference between being 19 and being 20! Saying I'm 20 makes me sound older, more mature! A real adult!" She stumbled over her words and Jenny stood up, one hand on her hip, the other to her forhead.

"I'm getting a bloody migraine!"

"One thing I don't get..." Nick began, "Is why Helen kidnapped...you? I mean, what relevance did you have to the Anomaly Operation! You didn't even have any link to her!"

Crystal looked like she was thinking. All was quiet for a while and eventually she shrugged.

"Guess she just finally went over the edge, huh!" She said, shrugging and sitting back in her seat.

Jenny didn't know whether she believed the girl or not. All she knew was that here was someone who was as mysterious and maybe as dangerous as Helen and until they found out who she really was, they couldn't get close to her. Jenny turned back to face her and looked over the girls face, her eyes were cast down, her lashes sending long shadows across her cheeks. She glanced up to meet Jenny's eyes with her own brown ones.

"Id there somewhere I could maybe catch some shut eye, for the night, maybe?" She asked, rubbing her forhead with a hand and itching her head with the other. She yawned hugely, emphasizing her statement.

"Sure," Jenny said, "Let me go speak to Lester!"

* * *

"You want to let some strange, young fugative sleep in the ARC! Where we keep archives for each and every anomaly we have ever faced and more information that anyone in the entire world will ever, or has ever had?"

"Yeah" Jenny said, simply. Lester folded his hands over his stomach, swinging slightly on his chair, deliberating.

"Fine, but you tell her, any finny business and she's going into one of the holding cells! Got it?"

"Got it!" Jenny confirmed, turning her back on him and marching out of the office. She had to admit, Lester was right, they probably shouldn't risk it. What with all of the information in the ARC, that girl could do allot of damage. Tat reminded Jenny. Crystal had said that she had information that could...what was it, oh yeah, 'damage the ARC' she'd have to find out what that information was. But, she thought, that could wait until tomorrow. She rounded the corner into the conrfence room to see that...nthing much had changed.

Connor had robbed her seat on the table, but other than that all seemed ordinary.

"Lester said you can have one of the ARC's rooms for the night, they're usually kept for eyewitnesses who need to be kept in over night!" She said, slapping her phone in the palm of her hand. She caught Nick's eye and saw him smile, awkwardly at her. She returned the smile, shyly. That would be an awkward conversation later.

"Come on, let's get you to bed!" She said to Crystal and the girl followed her, almost asleep on her feet.


	8. Chapter 8

"Hi," Jenny said, awkwardly, leaning on the doorframe of her and Nick's bedroom. He turned his face away from the book he'd been buried in and gave her a wry smile.

"Hey"

Jenny walked into the room, her hands folded across her chest and sat on the edge of the bed, "We Okay?" She asked and Nick breathed in through his nose, deeply, deliberating.

"Yeah, I guess!"

"Good," Jenny said, leaning forwards and kissing him, gently. She pressed her hand into his and he felt the coolness of metal. It was the ring.

"Is this a rejection?" Nick asked, his voice almost laughing. Jenny looked him over for a minute, thinking. He was staring back at her, his face laughing but his eyes worried. Eventually,. she smiled and shook her head, how could she ever reject him. He was the untimate love of her life. She'd never get another chance at love like this one. It was forever.

"No," She said, makign herself more comfortable on the bed, "I want you to ask me again!"

Nick looked her over and eventually sighed, taking the ring from her fully and getting up off the bed. He walked around until he was directly in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders, standing her up and clearing his throat. Nick hitched up his jeans and lowered one knee to teh ground, looking up at Jenny and taking one of her hands.

"I didn't mean..." She began, but was cut off.

"Shshh!" He smiled at her and she rolleed her eyes before fixing them on Nick's almost illuminous blue ones.

"Jennifer Lewis, you are one of the most opinionated, bossy, incorrigable and pig-headed women I have ever met!" He began and Jenny scoffed adn tried to pull her hand away but he held it tight, "You are also beautiful, intelligent, loving, funny, naive, encouraging and just...well you're pretty incredible! And you're blushing!" He laughed, "So, what I'm trying to say," He said, standing up and stepping close enough to her that she could feel his heartbeat, "Is that I love you," He slipped the ring onto her slim, white finger, "And will you spend the rest of your life with me?"

Jenny had a wild moment when she wanted to say all of the cheesy things she'd heard in movies, she wanted to make a big speech about how her body, her mind, her soul and her heart would always belong to Nick, about he was her one true love and her soul mate...but she would rather keep her dignity. Instead...

"Yes" She breathed, her voice barely audible, "Yes...I will"

Nick beamed at her and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her from the floor and kissing her. She wrapped her legs around his waist, kissing him and feeling the cool, warmth of the engagement ring on her finger. She smiled into the kiss and Nick let her fall, lightly onto the bed.

"I love you..." He said, leaning over her and she smiled, pulling him onto the bed adn kissuing him, passionately.

"I love you, Nick!" She moaned into the kiss, as passion took hold of them both.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the ARC, Crystal was awake and restless. She crept to the door of her room, the white shirt Jenny had given her to wear ended somewhere in the middle of her thigh. She was wearing knee-length socks that made no noise on the pristine floor.

There was no-one but security around, and they steered clear of the Ops. Area, only patrolling the surrounding corridors to make sure no-one got in, so it was pretty easy for Crystal to get into the room. She quietly closed the door behind her and went to the detector, sitting down in the chair and swivveling around to unlock the screen. The password was simple: Scoutosaurus. The first dinosaur that the whole team had ever seen together, though Crystal had expected it to be more complicated, she had tried it anyway after: Anomaly: Coelurosauravus: and Pizza had all failed.

She hacked into the files and then paused. A list of names. Many she recognixed, some she didn't.

She clicked on one she didn't recognize, _Taylor Craig._

The entry was short and read:

_**Taylor is an 11-year old girl who went through the anomaly which lead to the Silurian Desert trying to catch her dog and got lost. Her mother died and she was baby-sitted by someone called Steve, her stepfather. Cutter and Hart found her safe and well and together they avoided being eaten by Giant Scorpions.**_

The style and language of the writing had Connor all over it and Crystal thought that Lester must have left it to him to write that one. Next, Crystal clicked on a file whose name was very familiar.

_Jenny Lewis_

**_Full Name: Jennifer Tiffany Lewis_**

**_Age: 28_**

**_Job at the ARC: Public Relations Manager_**

**_Wage:_**

"Whoa!" Crystal exclaimed, "Thats alot of dosh!"

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Ah, crap!" She said, as a door slammed open behind her.

"What are you doing in here?" Becker asked as Crystal swung herself off the chair. His eyes involuntarily raked up and down he form, from teh shirt that was open four buttons down to where it ended on bare, tanned leg. She crossed her legs, awkwardly.

"Um..." She said, "The Anomaly!" Dragging Becker back to reality. He tore his eyes away from her, feeling like a cradle snatcher and went over to the Detector, his arm brushing hers, accidentaly. He looked down at her and she looked up at him with those big brown eyes. They reminded him of someone...but at this moment he couldn't for the life of him think who.

"Um...phone Nick, Jenny...whoever!" He said, pressing the phone into her hand.

"I'm on it, captain!" She said, mocking a salute and walking away, a little extra swing in her hips.


	9. Chapter 9

Jenny and Nick burst into the Ops. Area, Jenny's hands encased in leather gloves to 'shield her from the cold' as she had put it to Nick, who just rolled his eyes. Honestly, he didn't care whether she never told anyone she was engaged, all he cared about was that they were going to be married, husband and Wife and she would be Mrs Cutter, instead of Helen. They marched over to the detector, where Abby, Connor, Sarah and Becker were all crowded. Crystal was there too, but a little apart from the others; leaning on the desk and seeming very interested in her nails.

"Where is it?" Jenny asked Connor as she and Nick finally reached them, "You," She said, pointing an accusing finger at Crystal, "I will deal with later!"

"What did I do?" She demanded.

"You shouldn't have been anywhere near this computer! I told you to stay away from it!" Jenny fumed.

"What are you gonna do? Smack my arse and send me to my room?"

"Less of that language!" Nick childed, taking the gun that Becker offered him. Crystal, who had put her clothes back on, looked at them with disbelief.

"Who do you think you are? My parents? Because you're not!" She straightened up and marched out of the room. The team stood, taken aback. They were all frozen, looking awkwardly at Jenny and Nick. Finally, Jenny threw her hands up in frustration and let out a noise like an angry bear. Everyone jumped.

"Sorry..." Jenny said, running her hands down her jeans and breathing deeply, "Becker, please, go after her and make sure she doesn't...escape! Connor, the location!"

"Right! I'm on it!" Connor said, turning back to the Detector and resuming him manic typing.

* * *

Half an hour later, they were all on their way to a water park. The newest of a range of exotic locations where the rips in time seemed to want to appear. The reason it had taken them so long to leave the ARC was because it had taken Becker all of twenty minutes to find Crystal and then Lester had told Jenny that she was going with them. Jenny had tried to argue him out of it but James was adamant that he wanted Crystal to stay with the team whenever possible. Jenny had a little 'hissy fit' as Lester had called it.

_"WHAT!" Jenny demanded, her eyes blazing, her hands on her hips as she and the rest of the team sans Becker stood in front of Lester._

_"The girl...Crystal! Brown hair, brown eyes, slightly smaller than you, I'm sure you recall her! She's to stay with the team at all times! Or more specifically, you!"_

_"Me?" Jenny breathed in disbelief, "M...me...me wh...why? WHY?"_

_"Because." Lester said, lazily, "Now, there is an anomaly to attend to, Jenny! So, enough of this hissy fit! Shoo!"_

_And with another bear like growl, Jenny stormed out of the office, leaving the others looking after her, aprehensively._

_"Well," Sarah said, "Tonight should be fun!" And she had no idea how right she was._

"So, where exactly is the Anomaly?" Abby asked as they climbed out of the car.

"Somewhere in...that," Connor pointed east, "General direction!"

"Fabulous! I always loved your sense of certainty!" Jenny said, viciously, walking past Connor and towards the gates of the Park. Connor turned to look at Nick, who just raised his eyebrows.

"Good luck with that one!" Connor said, and earned himself a few mean glares from Jenny.

"Right," Sarah said, clapping her hands together "Lets get on with it, then!"

"CRYSTAL!" Jenny yelled, and everyone jumped. She stormed around the car and opened the back door, "Out!" She said, to the girl sitting inside with her arms folded across her chest. Crystal looked up at her with dark eyes and slowly, extra slowly, began to climb out of the car.

"Get this, you stay by me, at all times!"

"Yeah, whatever!" She said, walking to Nick, she looked up at him with puppy dog eyes and grinned, "May I please have a gun, oh wise and noble team leader?"

"Ah..." Nick said, looking over her head at Jenny, who was making epic 'NO' signals both with her face and her hands, "Sure!" He said, breaking down under her stare and handing her the gun in his hands.

"Wha..." Jenny said, slapping her hands on her thighs and glaring at Nick, as Crystal sent a smug look her way and darted off to where Connor, Abby and Sarah were walking into teh Park with the soldiers.

"How! How is she going to learn if we are sending her mixed signals? She's just gonna keep playing us off one another!" Jenny said, walking towards Nick, who was taking more guns out of the cases in his car.

"I know, babe, but I couldn't help it! She's got big brown eyes!"

"Oh," Jenny said, taking the gun he offered her, "So now your a sucker for big brown eyes?"

"Well, I fell for yours didn't I!" He said, leaning down swiftly and stealing a kiss.

"You just...watch it, mister!" Jenny said, pointing an accusing finger and starting towards the gates, leaving Nick laughing gayly.

* * *

"So, where is it then?" Abby said, after they'd spent a half hour searching the park for an anomaly.

"Yeah, Abby, because we're all not thinking that!" Crystal said, sucking the lollypop she'd found in her pocket.

"That," Abby pointed out, "Is a disgusting habbit! It will rot your teeth!"

"Want one?" Crystal offered, pulling a bright red lollypop from her pocket.

"Yes please!" Connor said, coming and swiping it from Crystals out streatched hand.

"OK, guys, we have to keep searching, at least until the Anomaly closes!" Nick said, "Connor and Abby, you the north side of the park! Becker and Sarah, the south! Jenny and Crystal, take the west side! I'm gonna take some soldiers and search the East! The rest of you soldiers, split up! Wherever this thing is, we're gonna find it!"

So the team split up, Jenny not feeling at all happy with her 'partner'. She felt as if the team had just doled Crystal off on her because she'd been the one to get the phone call. Either way, she wasn't going to let the girl get under her guard as the rest of the team had. She was everyone's new best friend.

"Hey," She heard hte girl call from the other side of a long stretch of water, "Look down!"

Jenny did so, and was appalled. In the blue-green beautifully clean water, there were lights. But of course, they weren't lights at all, it was an all twinkling, all shining, all deadly Anomaly! And from the looks off the pool, it was pretty deep.

"OK, I'm gunna get Nick on the radio!" Jenny called, pulling it out of her pocket, but Crystal was already contacting Connor, who was closest to where they were.

"Connor! Yeah, bring the Locking Device!"

And by teh time, Jenny got Nick to the site, Connor had set up the Locking mechanism.

"Hey," Jenny said, walking to meet her...fiance.

"Hey," Nick said, raching for her and kissing her cheek, affectionately, "So, exactly where is it?"

"At the bottom of the pool! Apparently Connor can't get a proper shot with the Locking Mechanism!"

SPLASH!

"Oh, dear!" Jenny heard Nick say, as he looked over her shoulder to where the anomaly, Connor, Abby and...

"CRYSTAL!" Jenny yelled, for the second time that night as she whirled around to see the girl jumping from the rails, following the Device she'd just flung into the water.

"Don't worry!" She said, peering at Jenny above the water, "Trust me, it's water proof!"

"Waterproof!" Jenny repeated to Nick, in an agonized voice, "Everything's fine...because Connor's GODDAMN MACHINE...IS WATERPROOF!"

Nick actually stepped away from Jenny as she exploded and raced to where Connor and Abby weer standing, Connor staring, mouth wide open, into the water.

"Well, she's got guts!" Abby said, as she watched the girls form point the Device at the Anomaly. There was a shot of light and Crystal ricochetted back a little, but the Anomaly shrunk visibly in size and everyone gave a sigh of relief, even Jenny.

"OK," Jenny said, as Crystal's head appeared above the water, "Now, please, get out of the water!"

"Sure, no problem!"

"Um...Crystal," Connor said, staring at a spot far away from where Crystal was in the water.

"Um...Yeah!"

"Can you swim!"

"No, Connor, I'm drowning!" She splashed, mockingly adn laughed.

"Stop splashing and get out of the water!" He yelled suddenly, shocking everyone.

"Why?"

"Because there's a Mososaur in there with you!"

And Crystal turned just in time to see the big, dark figure begin racing towards her.


	10. Chapter 10

**I had no Idea where I was going to take this it just ended up going this way! Don't shoot me!**

** I would like to Thank saresare, for reviewing! If it weren't for you, I would have given up on this! Thank you! xxx**

* * *

"Crystal!" Jenny yelled, "OUT! NOW!" And she leaned towards the girl in the water, reaching for her hand. Crystal reached up towards her, keeping her eyes on the Mososaur. She caught Jenny's hand and pulled herself up, supporting herself with her feet pressed against the wall.

Just before Jenny had her completely out of the water, she lunged for the woman's gun and twisted, falling back into the water. She fired incessantly at the Mososaur. It kept comming at her, and eventually, Crystal's gun was out of bullets.

"Crap!" She said, launching herself to the side as the Huge Dinosaur slammed into the wall where she'd been a second before. She dived through the water, trying to escape the huge creature, but the length of it spanned too much of the pool .

The pool, however, was very deep so Crystal took her only option.

She motioned for the others to shoot and dived beneath the huge form, betting that anything that large with lungs that big would float.

She heard the sound of loads of nullets hitting the water and thick hide and prayed that it would kill teh thing. Her lungs were running out of air...

Apparently the THING didn't want to die...and it was either be eaten, or drown. She swam, weakly, to where she had dove adn found her way blocked by slashing fin. Everything was beginning to go grey and stars were appearing before her eyes. She felt the air in her lungs pulse and tried, forcibly, to keep herself awake.

"Must stay awake..." A faint, faint voice in her mind said, and she saw bubbles appear before her face.

The air was escaping her lungs. She felt her mind go blank as her heart beat, rappidly, trying to keep her blood flowing, but with no oxygen...she fainted.

* * *

"Whats going on?" Jenny demanded, as teh Mososaur lay, dead, on top of the water.

"It's lungs were filled with water, still, so it's floating!" Abby said, wiping her hands on her jeans. Jenny knew she hated killing the creatures, it wasn't in Abby's nature, unless the situation demanded it, as it had tonight.

"No, I mean...where's Crystal?"

Connor and Abby looked at her, suddenly concerned.

"We thought she was with you?" Connor said.

"You mean...she never got out?" Abby stated, looking back at teh pool. Jenny made a quick decidsion and yanked off her jacket.

"This girl is really starting to bug me!" She said, as she removed her shoes.

"They're Jimmy Choo!" She said, kissing them and handing them to Abby, "Look after them for me!" Then she removed her blouse.

"Whoa!" Connor said, staring, helplessly at the cleavage that showed over the cami-top Jenny had been wearing, tactfully, Abby covered his eyes.

Jenny was in the middle of undoing her trousers before she gave up and dived into the water.

"Thought you couldn't swim!" Connor yelled.

"I got lessons!" She yelled back, looking franticly around for Crystal.

"Jenny!" She heard a voice yell adn looked up into Nick's horrified eyes, "Jenny...get out...!"

"Nick, get the paramedics! My guess: If Crystal didn't surface she's in trouble!"

She gulped a lungful of air before disappearing beneath the water.

She dove beneath the Mososaur, having a horrible vision of the creature suddenly dropping onto her, trapping her, but forced herself to swim. A splash above her told her Nick, fully clothed: coat and all, had dove in after her. She sent him a loving glance before taking off towards where Crystal had last been. What she saw horrified her.

"Helen!" She shrieked, but all that came out were bubbles, and the last of her oxygen supply!

Helen was hauling Crystal's unconcious form towards the Anomaly. She sent an evil look at Jenny, who instantly took off after them. She felt Nick's hand grope at her ankle, but she slipped it through his grip easily and swam, hastily towards the women. The last thing she saw was Crystal dissappearing through the Anomaly...before she did so herself.

Disoriented, she looked around for Crystal, catching her in her line of vision as Helen began dragging the girl upwards. Jenny had gotten very good at swimming and was faster, mainly because she didn't have teh dead weight of an unconscious girl to carry.

She caught hold of Crystals ankle and dragged downwards, stalling Helen, who sent a booted foot towards Jenny's nose. It missed and caught her cheek, causing Jenny, who was already failing miserably in keeping her breath, to gasp and take a lung full of water. Cruelly, Helen laughed and kept swimming upwards as Jenny gasped for air that wound't come. Finally, she closed her mouth, dispite her blurred vision, adn swam towards Helen. The woamn had finally hit the surface adn Jenyn did so, taking a grateful gasp of air that hurt slightly.

helen saw her and began pulling Crystal towards the sure, hurriedly. Jenny swam faster than before.

"Let her go, Helen!" She yelled, but Helen just laughed, keeping towards the shore.

"Oh well, i asked nicely!" Jenny said, pulling back her fist.

Helen turned towards her and Jenny sent the punch her way, making blood spurt violently from her nose and causing Helen, who was now as unconcious as Crystal, to sink beneath the surface. Jenny caught Crystal and helf her to her. She had two options, take Crystal beneath teh surface once again to the Anomaly...but she had already been unconcious for so long...she was turning pale...

But, a voice in Jenny's head said, she needs a doctor!

You've got medical training! Another voice said.

Bu, you're no doctor!

"SHUT UP!" Jenny yelled, aloud, making a decision adn dragging Crystal to the shore. Because, whilst her mind had been sending her mixed signals, a third voice had been whispering, conspiratorially. Where was Nick? Surely, he'd have followed her through...if he could!

Glancing down, she could see no sign of a shining light! No Anomaly! So, determined to stay alive, and to keep Crystal that way too, she dragged the girls body onto the shore.

"Come on!" She said, pushing on the girls chest five times. One, Two, Three, Four, Five! Breathe!

She repeated this six times, refusing to give up, before she sat the girl up and pounded her on the back. It was a last resort. But it worked. Crystal choked and Jenny, so jubilsnt that tears forced themselfvess to teh surface, wrapped her arms around the girl!

"Oh, you're alright!" She said, and Crystal nodded.

"I'm good! What happened?"

And then, the truth and hopelessness of their situation hit Jenny.


	11. Chapter 11

"Why are you ovverreacting?"

" Overreacting? You're serious? I'm sorry, but I do believe the statement:_ 'we're trapped in some unknown time with no way of getting home' _warrants panicking!" Jenny said, bending over and breathing deeply. They'd been walking for what Jenny thought must have been hours. Though the sun didn't seem to be moving and was frying Jenny from the outside in. Her feet felt raw, after climbing the hill that Crystal had started for after Jenny had explained everything.

"Go ahead then, panic! But don't expect me to! I've been in this situation...and this era, before!" She said, stopping and leaning on a rock. She'd removed her jacket and was wearing it tied around her waist. Despite the lack of clothing, both she and Jenny were still sweating profously.

"So, you know how to get back?" Jenny asked, praying that the answer would be '_yes_'.

"Well, that actually depends on whether the Anomaly opens, unless you friends can find a way to open them..." She faded off as Jenny began shaking her head.

"We don't have that technology yet, unfortunately!" Jenny said, making a mental note to personally kick Connor's butt into gear and get him working on that.

"Great, so we're stuck here until an Anomaly opens then!" Crystal said, resting her head on her hands.

"With no food, and no water, and no clothes!" Jenny said, desolately and she looked up at the sun, thinking about Nick. She felt the ring on her finger and kissed it, thinking that it was the thought of him that would keep her going. The thought of his smile, his eyes and the way he had kissed her earlier that night. She sighed and stood up as Crystal carried on up the hill.

* * *

"What do you mean? The anomaly's closed?" Connor asked Nick, who was drenched and glaring into space, his eyes were wide and cruel. Now, he turned them on Connor.

"It's closed. It's...they've...she's gone, Connor! Crystal...Helen...and Jenny! Jenny's gone!"

"Wha-" Sarah put a hand over her mouth so muffle her sobbs and Becker put a protective arm around her shoulders.

"We'll get them back, though, right?" Connor said, trying to feign hope. He looked into the eyes of his professor and saw nothing but pain, "I'm going back to the ARC," He said, "And I'm gonna start work on making one of them opening things that Helen used..."

"You mean like this?" Abby said, handing Connor something that looked like a remote control.

"Yeah...Abby, you genius!" He said, taking it from her and running off towards the car. Nick watched him go feeling that, even if the student did manage to get that thing working, what were the chances of getting to Jenny before...something, happened. He forced himself to feel hopeful, but it was diffucult. His mind was still processing the information that Jenny..the woman he had asked to marry him meer hours ago...was gone. Not gone, dead gone, at least...he wouldn't let himself think that.

"Come on, Nick!" Sarah said, from beside him, tugging on his sleeve to make him move. He looked down at her. The eyes that met his were filled with compassion and understanding. She moved her hand from his sleeve and clutched his.

"We'll get her back!" She reassured him and he watched as she rushed off after Becker and caught up to him. He looked down at her and Nick saw him wrap an arm around her shoulder. He suddenly felt very lonely and turned back to the pool, where the Mososaur was being unloaded. Someone was talking about how the Park would have to be closed the following day due to cleaning they would have to do on teh pool. It sounded like someone had taken Jenny's job upon themselves. Nick didn't know whether to be angry or grateful. He looked up at the sun, praying she would come back to him safely.

* * *

"How's it going?" Abby asked, walking to Connor's side and rubbing him on the back in a gesture of encuoragment.

"Not good, Abs, it's dead!" Connor said, "Probably why Helen left it, the horrid, evil little-"

"Yes, well, isn't there another way you can find out how it works...so you could maybe find a power source? Or maybe replicate it?" She suggested and Connor shrugged, his brain tired after working non-stop for almost 24 hours. Abby smiled, reassuringly at him and placed a swift kiss on his cheek. The smell of her filled his nose and his head, removing all other thought.

"I know you can do it!" She said, and she flounced off, leaving a down trodden but blushing Connor to gaze after her.

Despite everyone's worry and anxiety over Jenny (and Crystal, though no-one wanted to admit) Connor still found room in-between those emotions to feel others. There was something inside him that felt for Abby, and something that made his heart beat faster when she was near. It was an endless need to protect and comfort her and it made him feel like she was his responsability.

"Um...Sarah," He called, to the woman sitting across hte desk from him.

"Mmm, What Connor?" She asked, looking up from whatever she was writing.

"Can you do me a favour and find something to open this up with? A screwdriver...or something!"

"Uh, sure...but, why?"

"Because this one's dead and I'm going to see if I can...replicate it!" He said, smiling at her a little.

"Sure, but where are you going?" She asked as Connor jumped up and started across the room.

"Um...I'm going to get some friendly advice from someone I look up to!" He said, and Sarah nodded, looking confused.

Connor rushed down a few corridors, looking about for the person he wanted to speak to. Eventually, he found Nick working rapidly on the model, writing things on the clear board in the middle of the room. He was probably trying to find out when the next Anomaly to the Cretaceous was.

"Professor...Cutter...Nick!" Connor corrected himself and Nick looked up.

"That was a lot of stuttering, Connor, what is it?" He asked, turning back to what he was working on. That was one of the things Connor loved about his mentor, he was always there, no matter how much was going on in his life, and Connor felt slightly guilty takign up time that could be valuable to saving Jenny, but he needed some advice.

"How does Jenny make you feel?" He asked and Nick looked up, shocked.

"What?"

"You know, how do you feel when she's...with you?"

"How do I feel?" Cutter asked, put out by the question, "Well..." He paused and sighed, "Connor...I don't really feel comfortable discussing-"

"Please!" Connor begged, looking up at his professor with desperate eyes.

"Connor..." Nick said, sounding tired, "Listen...this is about Abby, right?"

"Well, yeah!" Connor admitted, looking slightly ashamed. Cutter smiled at him, despite his own emotions being in complete dissaray at the moment.

"Then...you don't need my advice! You two are great together and you don't need anyone's help when it comes to her, you know her better than anyone else on earth, just be yourself and ask her out!"

"Ask her out?" Connor spoke as if it were the most terrifying think in the world and despite himself, again, Cutter chuckled.

"Ye-es!" He said, a laugh breaking the word into two.

"Ask her out...OK! And Cutter...we're going to find Jenny!" Connor said, turning back at the door.

"Good Luck, Connor!" Nick said, smiling sadly.


End file.
